[mythtv-users] Better Satellite Service in the US

[Brad DerManouelian]

On Jul 24, 2008, at 12:14 PM, Brian Wood wrote:

> On Thursday 24 July 2008 13:08:36 James Crow wrote:
>> I have decided that with the recent availability of naked DSL I  
>> want to
>> switch to one of the satellite television providers for the US. I
>> currently run Myth with a PVR-500 and analog cable. I would like to
>> record HD as I have a HD TV and a decently powerful (AMD 64 x2 5?00)
>> Myth PC. Is either of the satellite companies providing IEEE-1394  
>> ports
>> or other ways to get HD content into a Myth box? I would be happy
>> setting up OTA HD for my local stations. The only other stations I  
>> watch
>> are HGTV and Discovery. Both of which are available 5C encrypted on  
>> my
>> cable service.
>>
>> Any advice or pointers from those who have satellite hooked into  
>> their
>> Myth box?
>
> There are "jeeped" satellite receivers out there that purport to  
> have a
> firewire port, I'm not sure if these are legal, or if they work. I'm  
> not
> aware of any F/W solution sanctioned by the satellite providers.
>
> I'm presently recording SD from the S-Video output of my sat  
> receiver, but I
> have purchased an HDPVR-1212 and hope to eventually get that working  
> to
> record HD from my DISH receiver.

I have this exact same solution (except I have DirecTV and not DISH)  
in place and honestly, I'm quite happy with the quality of S-Video  
from the HD Satellite boxes and enjoy not having to have massive  
frontends to display the big pretty SD quality content. It's in a nice  
wide-screen format that I would say is somewhere between DVD quality  
and the crappy quality I was getting out of the SD Satellite boxes.  
Oh, and this SD quality is much better than the quality my friend gets  
from his HD Comcast DVR connected directly to his huge Plasma display.

-Brad